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USD School of Law Professors Honored for Academic Achievements

SAN DIEGO (February 2, 2010) – Three University of San Diego (USD) School of Law professors have been honored by the University of San Diego for their outstanding achievements and contributions to their discipline. Awards will be formally bestowed on September 3, 2010.

Professor Frank Partnoy has been awarded with one of only five 2010-2011 University Professorships. The University Professorship is the highest academic honor bestowed university-wide and is based on outstanding contributions at the University of San Diego in teaching and research. Only one professorship is awarded to the School of Law each year. The professorship provides funds that may be used flexibly for course reduction, salary supplement, travel or project needs.

Professor Orly Lobel was named the 2010-2011 Herzog Endowed Scholar. The award recognizes meritorious teaching and scholarly productivity and provides funds for professional development or for increased time for research or teaching for a one-year period to younger school of law faculty.

Professor Grayson McCouch was named the 2010-2011 Class of 1975 Endowed Professor. The award was established by the Class of 1975 at its 25-year reunion gift to the law school to recognize meritorious teaching, leadership and academic accomplishments of a professor in the School of Law.

Professor Partnoy teaches and writes in the areas of corporate law, corporate finance and financial market regulation. His publications include Infectious Greed: How Deceit and Risk Corrupted the Financial Markets (Henry Holt), F.I.A.S.C.O.: Blood in the Water on Wall Street (W.W. Norton) and more than 20 articles on various topics related to financial market regulation. Before joining the USD faculty in 1997, Partnoy worked as an investment banker at CS First Boston and Morgan Stanley in New York, and as an attorney at Covington and Burling in Washington, D.C. He was co-recipient of the 1999 Thorsnes Prize for Excellence in Teaching and is the 2004 Herzog Endowed Scholar.

Professor Lobel writes and teaches in the areas of employment law, administrative law, legal theory, torts, consumer law and trade secrets. Prior to coming to USD, she taught at Yale Law School and served as a fellow at the Harvard University Center for Ethics and the Professions, the Kennedy School of Government's Hauser Center for Non-Profit Research, and the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. A graduate of Tel Aviv University Law School, she clerked on the Israeli Supreme Court and did her graduate studies at Harvard Law School. Her current research focuses on new models of law and governance in the context of the new economy, the labor market, privatization and new public management techniques.

Before joining the USD faculty, Professor McCouch was a professor at the University of Miami School of Law. He clerked for Judge Hugh H. Bownes on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and practiced law with firms in Boston and Minneapolis. He was a research fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, and at the Max Planck Institute in Munich, Germany. McCouch teaches and writes primarily in the areas of wills, trusts and taxation. His recent publications include “The Empty Promise of Estate Tax Repeal,” “Probate Law Reform and Nonprobate Transfers,” and “COBRA Strikes Back: Anatomy of a Tax Shelter” (with Professor Karen Burke). He is co-author (with B. Bittker and E. Clark) of a leading casebook on federal estate and gift taxation. McCouch is a member of the American Law Institute.

About the University of San Diego School of Law
The University of San Diego School of Law is a center of academic excellence focused on preparing its students for legal practice in the new century. One of the most selective law schools in the country, the School of Law's nationally recognized faculty create a demanding, yet welcoming environment that emphasizes individualized education. USD law school graduates consistently score higher than the state average on the California Bar Exam and go on to practice law throughout the country and abroad, forming an influential network of alumni. The USD School of Law is one of only 80 law schools in the country to have a chapter of The Order of the Coif, the most distinguished rank of American law schools. The school is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. Founded in 1954, the law school is part of the University of San Diego, a private, nonprofit, independent, Roman Catholic university chartered in 1949.

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